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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Residents of Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State and Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI) have decried fresh oil spill which occurred two days ago on Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) being operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). The community residents lamented that within a space of one month, they had witnessed incidents of spills in Sugi, Deebon and Kol-naana river in Bodo. It would be recalled that a recent JIV report had revealed that Shell spilled five barrels of crude oil into Bodo community on August 2. 2022.
Speaking at the incident site in Deebon, Richard Giadom lamented the devastating effect of the pollution on the community. The man who said the spill has taken over their farmlands, houses, disclosed that many people from the community had taken refuge in neighbouring communities for fear of sudden explosion. He said: “You see living houses that are already drained with oil. We cannot cook inside the house so we have to go elsewhere and find refuge. So presently the farmers have been affected.”
In her own outcry, Mrs. Charity Ghana, a native of Bodo called on the international community to come and rescue them. She said: “I cannot say anything but God knows the best. We are dying now.
Our children, everybody in the community are not safe.” She noted that this would be the second time they are experiencing such an environmental disaster. She said: “This is not the first one. In the month of August, about four spillages occurred in this community. I can’t see clearly because of the pollution, the effect is very harsh on us.”
Meanwhile, the President of Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI), Douglas Fabeke, has expressed displeasure at the attitude of Shell and Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) for their alleged inability to issue a statement on the spills in order to control its spread since the spill occurred and commencing a proper remediation of the impacted site and compensation of the people of Bodo in line with global best practices.
He lamented the ravaging damage in Bodo Community which has impacted the residential areas of the community with dwellers asking to evacuate to mitigate the associated risks, including a probable fire outbreak. He also called on residents to desist from further scooping of the crude oil as it is highly inflammable and capable of causing a massive explosions in the community. He opined that this is a strong vindication of their continued agitation for a comprehensive clean-up of Ogoniland and the decommissioning of the decayed facilities of the SPDC. He added that if the previous spill had been immediately contained, the recent one wouldn’t have occurred.
